Last updated December 2010
Authors:
Deon Filmer; Jed Friedman; Norbert Schady
Abstract:
Much development aid over the past 40 years has been devoted to family planning on the assumption that information
and supply constraints for contraceptive services result in families larger than demanded and the welfare of each
child in a large family subsequently suffers due to dilution of household resources. However, it is not clear that larger
families per se result in worse outcomes, especially if older children play a role in household production or if the marginal
cost of child investment is low. An improved understanding of the relationship between fertility and child welfare
in developing countries will help inform future policies related to child investments including the targeting of
health or education subsidies or conditional aid transfers.
Contact Information:
Deon Filmer,
dfilmer@worldbank.org; Jed Friedman,
jfriedman@worldbank.org; Norbert Schady
nschady@worldbank.org, The World Bank